It's fast becoming a GameSpot tradition: I see a Gran Turismo game, I write way too much about it. That's just the way it is, okay? Just let me get it out of my system and I'll be fine.

So, hot on the heels of my hands-on look at GT 5 Prologue comes this set of random thoughts, thunk while happily turning lap after lap at Suzuka in both the racing cabinet version of the game and the standard Sixaxis-controlled version:

- I don't know how the game organizes races. In the 16-player races it seems like some races featured a variety of cars, and others features cars of a single make. For instance, when racing in a Ferrari 430, I could have sworn I was going up against a bunch of different models. However, when I started a race in a Lotus Elise, I was faced with a bunch of Elises.

- A Ford Mustang GT '07 with "professional" physics, zero traction or stability control is a tough car to drive. In fact, I can't even imagine how a car that's that tough to manuever in real life could even be considered street legal.

- Yes, it was a work-in-progress build of the game, but I'm really hoping the sometimes-jittery graphics I saw in the 16-player races gets fixed up.

- The race seats on-hand were prejudiced against... ahem... big-boned folks. I could barely squeeze by doughy butt in that tight little seat; I can't imagine how some of my Teutonic colleagues managed to get in there.

- I forgot to mention this in the preview, but the front-end of GT5 Prologue featured a high-res model of the current car you selected, as well as a calendar showing the current date, a map of the world with major world metropolitans such as Los Angeles, NYC, and Tokyo highlighted, and a weather forecast for various spots on the globe. Not sure what to make of it, but it seems a safe bet it could be a sneak peek of the interface that Gran Turismo 5 will utilize.

- Things That Were Awesome: the handling of the Audi R8; the hollow roar of the Tuscan's Speed Six engine (and the beastly howl of the Mustang, for that matter; the gorgeous interior cockpit of the Ferrari F430; the long back straight of Suzuka leading into the tight right-left turns of 15 and 16.

- Things That Puzzled Me: the continuing lack of a damage model; the lackluster rumble in the wheel-based version of the game; the fact that you couldn't take Suzuka's turn 8 nearly flat out like you can in Forza 2; the curious and troubling absence of Yugo-model cars in Gran Turismo games. Okay, not so much the last one.

Okay, it's late and I've got a long day ahead of me. Off to bed I go, likely to dream of whirring engines and smoking tires as soon as my head hits the pillow...

I hope you all enjoyed the Madden NFL 08 launch marathon/live event madness. We had a fun, if stressful, time putting it together. Just a quick story from the event I thought I'd share:

If you watched the event, you know that Ozzy Osbourne played a trio of songs on top of the Hard Rock Cafe. Well, I should say the drummer and the bass player played, while Ozzy lip-synched his way through a vocal track and Zakk Wylde slapped his guitar around (possibly also to a pre-recorded guitar track though, because Zakk looks like a boss monster in a survival-horror game, I would never say that to his face).

Anyhoo, right after Ozzy performed, we were given the chance to interview the man himself. Once the media throng made its way down to the cavernous backstage area beneath the Hard Rock, we were informed that the two hours Ozzy had allotted for interviews had shrunk to half and hour and that it was entirely possible that some people would not get to talk to Ozz.In reality, 30 minutes turned into about 15 and we were one of the unlucky outfits to miss out.

Naturally, this sucked. But not because I thought the interview was going to be any good, mind you. In fact, had I gotten the chance, I wouldn't have even asked a question. Instead, I was planning on stepping up with the microphone and simply saying:

"Quite exciting, this computer magic."

And letting the chips fall where they may. If you spot the reference, you'll see that questions don't get better than that. And his response would likely have been gold as well.

Too bad we'll never know.

We return. You missed us, we trust.

**NOTICE** The intrinsic humor value of pants and all of its associations (My pants are tight; Look, I'm not wearing pants; Look at that stain on my pants, it looks like (insert variable here); my pants have been removed without my knowledge) has been drained completely due to overuse. We would apologize for the inconvenience but it was you who ruined it in the first place. Bottom line, pants are no longer funny.

**ADDENDUM** We do still acknolwedge the intrinsic humor value of nutter shorts.

We depart.

After weeks of attempting, I finally qualified for my first official tournament in Forza Motorsport 2 last night. Twice in fact, as I made it into the top 192 on the two B class tournaments that are running today. I just ran my first-round race about an hour ago and came in second. Qualifying was an agonizing process of turning tons of laps and spending a lot of time experimenting with tuning setups. On the other hand, coming in second place during the race among drivers--a couple of whom were quite clearly faster than me--was simply a matter of following my #1 rule when playing Forza 2 (or any highly realistic console driving sim for that matter):

Start at the back.

Really. That's all there is to it. Start at or near the back of the pack and wait for the nearly inevitable first- or second-turn disaster.

For the tournament race, my car's performance index was slightly lower than everyone else, ensuring that I started in last place. With our cars and abilties on a more or less equal playing field, it was simply a matter of time before someone touched bumpers and cars went flying. In this particular race, the accident occured on the second turn and, after dodging the pileup, I cruised to an easy second-place finish.

In my experience, starting in the rear of the pack and playing it conservative in the beginning is a near-surefire path to success in Forza 2. Naturally, as the level of your competition increases, the rule's effectiveness begins to taper off, as skilled players know how to run different lines into turns without causing chaos. Still, in a good chunk of the online races you'll run in Forza 2, starting from the back is a great strategy. Races aren't won in the first turn but they can be ruined. As long as you are set up to take advantage of other folks' mistakes, you'll increase your chances of victory.

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Some highlights of the Sunday racing featuring members of the Forza 2 Paintshop Union, and their excellent car designs.

So here's my latest Forza 2 work-in-progress, a car themed after my favorite world affairs/design/culture magazine Monocle:

It's certainly not as flashy as the Domino's car though, honestly, it's been about twice as difficult to pull off. Creating the Monocole "font" took damn near forever, and I'm still not happy with the results. Much tweaking ahead, I think.

It brought to mind a conversation that Justin and I have had over the past few days regarding the pros and cons of the vinyl system in Forza 2. For me, one of the biggest problems has been the lack of fonts available. Instead of painstakingly creating each letter of the Monocole logo, for example, it would have been so much nicer to simply have used a serif font that was "pretty close" and moved on to designing other parts of the car. As it stands, I've spent a total of about three hours simply designing a seven-letter logo. I know Justin had similar gripes about his Snapfish car.

Of course, judging by the insanely detailed cars out there, people with way more skill than meare finding creative solutions to these problems. Still, wouldn't it be nice if one of the upcoming download packs included some new fonts and other vinyl goodies to work with?

As an aside, if you're looking for a place to share your designs, ask for logo advice, or simply put your masterpiece in a race, check out the new Forza 2 Paintshop Union, which Justin started yesterday. We've got some good stuff planned, so drop on by and share your work with us.

My new Domino's Pizza car:

I wanted to do a Papa John's car, but the logo is too tough.

God I almost didn't get Forza 2 yesterday--I found it at the last store I went to, quite literally my last resort. I had pre-ordered the game from Amazon but, early yesterday, they sent a note saying it would be delayed until mid-June. Thank God for the one-click cancel button. Friggin' jackballs.

Anyway, what does it say about me that, aside from a few career mode races and a good long stretch of online racing with Jeff and Tim Surette (and a few others), I spent the vast majority of my night playing with the paint and vinyl design tools in the game? I mean, isn't it supposed to be a driving game? After seeing some of Aaron and Jeff's creations, I had to get in and try my hand with the tool. Here's my first creation:

I like to refer to it as my ghost car. Haha, that's a racing game joke. Anyway, I had a different idea at the start but it just sort of morphed into this autumn/Halloween-themed car. Here's another shot of it running at Maple Valley from the other side:

Now I'm thinking I'll do one for each season.

All of a sudden, the videogame world of football is interesting again. There was a time, not too long ago, when I think everyone (myself included) was wondering whether EA's scooping up the NFL license would lead to a one-game gridiron world, with Madden being the only game in town. As we've seen from the past few weeks alone, that isn't going to be the case at all. Not only has 2K thrown the football gauntlet with the revival of its 2K football franchise, but Tecmo, of all companies, made a splash last week by announcing that Tecmo Bowl is returning in 2008 (though, to be fair, that's all we know about that game). And with Midway sure to release a follow-up to their revamped Blitz series at some point, football fans will still have plenty to choose from, even if there's only one place to play with guys like Chad Johnson, Drew Brees, and Reggie Bush. And then of course there's my favorite football series--NCAA Football--with details yet to come (such as details on the big dynasty mode changes. Can't wait for that.) 

But back to Madden. Our first hands-on preview of Madden NFL 08 is up and, if it isn't conveyed to you clearly enough in the preview, I'll say it here: I like what I've seen of this game so far. A lot, in fact. When we were down in Orlando to visit EA Tiburon last month, the Madden team impressed me with their upfront desire to address gameplay first with this year's game. Forget the superstar mode and the minigames--sure they're all going to be in there (along with owner mode, thank God)--but the first thing these guys wanted to talk about was gameplay, controls, and animation. And, when you play the game, you'll see what they meant. Players seem much more responsive than before; inside running--something I've avoided like Paris Hilton avoids homeless people--feels right; and the player animations are more varied and responsive to control than I've played in a long time. 

It's easy to be pessimistic about the NFL license and its obvious money-grubbing downside. Naturally, I'd rather everyone get a chance to play in Roger Goodell's sandbox. Still, a lack of license by no means that innovation is dead. The optimist in me thinks that the lack of an NFL license could be just the creative spark that ignites game developers to do what they do best: get creative and focus on the fun, instead of merely towing the licensed line. Taking it a step further, it's that kind of innovation that will keep the Madden and NCAA guys (none of whom work in a vacuum) honest about their own games, and spur even more creativity on their parts. And in the end, ideas and innovation (and, dare I say it, competition) are the lifeblood of sports games. The optimist in me thinks the next three-to-five years could be the best the genre has ever seen, precisely for these reasons.

So, yeah, I'm pumped about Madden 08. I'm beside myself waiting to get the full story on NCAA Football 08. I'm curious as hell to see what APF 2K8 has in store for us. Tecmo Bowl? Blitz? Another friggin' Eyeshield 21 game? Sure! Bring 'em on! 

Who says football games are dead?

I used to have a friend named Gemma. She spoke with a heavy Filipino accent and when she would say the phrase "that sucks" it would always come out as "that suck." As in, "I went to the grocery store last night and they had run out of milk. That suck."

Today's "That Suck" is the news that THQ and SimBin are no longer working together to publish GTR for the Xbox 360. Not sure if the game will be picked up by another publisher, or why THQ and SimBin parted ways (perhaps they were getting cold feet when faced with going up against Forza 2...). It's doubly depressing to note that the THQ press announcement said they were abandoning the project in order to focus on their current stable of racing titles--Stuntman, Juiced, and the MX series. Ugh.

However you slice this news, one thing's for sure: That suck.